Pipe dream: Freya Prumm chasing shot in WSL

She has just taken a year off her studies to chase her goal, competing strongly in the qualifier series. 

“You can’t win if you don’t enter,” she says about the decision. “And I guess I didn’t want to deny myself the chance of getting somewhere with surfing, especially with the exceptional support of family and friends.”

Facing some of the world’s best waves across a plethora of stunning locations, the former Merimbula surfer still misses local waves sometimes. 

“I miss surfing the bar … the last trip I did back to Merimbula, the bar was firing, which was pretty special,” She said during a round in southern France.. 

Prumm has an undeniable love of the wind and waves, hitting the surf from a young age, but getting a taste for competition against her mates in their teen years. 

“I was pretty young, I would surf against the lads who were all my friends, but they were a year above,” Prumm said. 

Her parents threw support behind her love of the beach, and Prumm began competing in “grom search” events around Australia. 

“My parents were wonderful in taking me to competitions,” she said “I surfed against the girls around Australia who were my age and so I gauged my ability against theirs.”

There was always an inkling suspicion she could do just a bit more, but Prumm said she had shied away from leaving home for uni or to pursue surfing. 

But after dwelling over “a horrendous facial injury”, a gentle nudge from Kai Otton’s father provided the drive to try out the qualifying series. 

“So I paid the entry fees and that was that, since then Dad has taken me all around the world to compete because I felt like I could win,” she said. 

She’s just finishing up the current leg of competition that included stints in France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. 

With all the travel involved, Prumm has seen some incredible locales, but said her favourite stop so far had been Peru. “There was something about Peru that was special for me; great waves, interesting landscape, mellow people, great food and I really love the Spanish language.”

She’s not putting too much pressure on herself, just trying to compete well at each event and travelling with a group this time around. 

She said she was looking forward to “sharing her life a bit” and getting to know the people shew as travelling with.  

“It’s a more relaxed approach so I am excited to see what that brings as this trip will set me up well for the final event of the year in Cronulla.”

Prumm said she gets a few pointers from the men’s coaches on how to tackle new locations, but she would be happy to learn from the women’s leaders. 

“As I mostly travel alone I’m not really in the circle, but if I were tight with some of the top chicks like Steph Gilmore or Tyler Wright, I’d probably be picking their brains,” she said with a laugh.